There are many situations where it is desired to support a roll or reel of continuous sheet material such as paper, plastic film or foil material, either for dispensing of material from the roll or for winding onto the roll. Such rolls commonly have tubular cores formed, for example, from paper, plastic or metal tubing and are generally supported for rotation on a spindle in the apparatus concerned. The roll is supported on the spindle in a number of different ways, depending on the application. For example, the spindle may be provided with cones at either end thereof, one cone being fixed and the other cone being axially movable to support the roll between the cones in a wedging action and centralise the roll on the spindle. Other forms of support spindles have been provided with a number of longitudinal slats having studs protruding inwardly therefrom through the wall of the support spindle to a central actuating device adapted to move the slats outwardly and, hence, increase the circumference of the support spindle to lock the core thereon. Yet another form uses a rotationally cast membrane of elastomeric material such as polyurethane.
Repairs to rotationally cast polyurethane membranes are almost impossible to effect and have to be returned to the original manufacturer for a complete recast. Another disadvantage with this type of spindle is that a standard cannot be established because of the variation of the wall thickness of the support spindle, which has to be either increased or decreased depending on load factors and therefore affecting the elastic properties of the membrane.
The known methods of mounting a roll onto a spindle are either complex and, therefore, expensive to manufacture and prone to breakdown in use, or are cumbersome and time consuming to use, requiring considerable operator effort and taking up valuable process time.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an improved roll support spindle which will obviate or minimise the foregoing disadvantages in a simple yet effective manner, or which will at least provide the public with a useful choice.